A company formed by entities from three East European and Asian countries will further invest in transport between China and the EU, to increase railway freight flow and improve financial relations.

The United Transport and Logistics Company (UTLC) has recently announced new plans for a better collaboration between EU operators and those located in China. By implementing a better strategy, the Head of the Belarusian Railways, Vladimir Morozov, wishes to triple the freight volume being transported between China and the European Union. He also hopes to achieve this by the year 2020.

According to Vladimir Morozov, the potential for growth is possible, considering the increase of freight traffic in recent years. Compared with last year’s results, for instance, the company’s rail traffic for container trains has risen by as much as 25 to 30%. Currently, there are three to five container trains crossing Belarus every day. This is also a clear and significant improvement over the numbers registered three to five years ago, of just three or four container trains per week. Recent estimations see the numbers increasing to as much as 500,000 containers per year, by 2020.

One of the ways UTLC would see better traffic is for the company to find strategic partners across Europe. Mr. Morozov goes on to say that the UTLC-Chinese relations are already in place and working efficiently. However, there are still several issues in negotiating with European partners. UTLC is looking for companies with potential growth and also with ‘prospects of organizing transportation all over Europe’.

The United Transport and Logistics Company (UTLC) has been established in June 2013, following negotiations with national railway operators from Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan. The company was then registered in Moscow (Russia), in November 2014. This public joint-stock entity transports cargo in containers, on train routes between Europe and Asia.

Recently, the company transported its no. 1,000 container train for this year. The vehicle in question departed in early December, with products from the Hewlett Packard (HP) company. The train was composed of 41 cargo containers and left China, on route to Europe. This is an important step for UTLC, but not as important as the plans that the First Vice-President of the Company, Erzhan Zhakishev has for 2017. According to him, UTLC will be able to increase transport by around 40%, next year.